Legal/Finance
Compensation culture - or redressing the balance?
8th May 2008
There is a perception that the UK has become a compensation culture. Paul Trincas, a litigation specialist with solicitors Charles Lucas & Marshall, says that when it comes to personal injury cases this is complete and utter nonsense.
There is a belief that in the UK, solicitors actively encourage people who have sustained personal injury, to pursue claims for compensation - irrespective of the merits of their claims and in the hope that insurance companies will simply cave in and pay out damages.
Anyone who has been involved in advising clients on compensation claims knows only too well that this perception of a ‘compensation culture’, is a far cry from reality.
From a business point of view, no solicitor in their right mind would advise a client to pursue a claim for compensation for personal injuries unless there was merit in the claim and a successful outcome would be achieved.
For a solicitor to pursue a compensation claim on behalf of a client which had no realistic prospects of success, would not be in either the solicitor’s or the client’s interests.
Nowadays, most claims for compensation for personal injuries are funded by a conditional fee agreement, commonly known as ‘No Win-No Fee’.
For a solicitor to pursue a claim which has no realistic prospects of success, would be tantamount to committing business suicide, as the solicitor, is only paid if the case is successful.
Therefore, contrary to perception, the converse is in fact the reality, as it is incumbent on a solicitor to ensure, right at the outset and before taking the case on, that there is a realistic prospect of success, otherwise, the plain fact of the matter is that under ‘No- Win-No Fee’ agreements, the solicitor does not get paid unless the claim is successful.
So, what are solicitors trying to achieve in pursuing such cases?
The answer is simple – to ensure the person who has sustained injury, and who may have suffered significant injury resulting in them being unable to work for any length of time, is put into a position whereby the pain, suffering and loss of amenity suffered is adequately reflected by means of compensation.
The plain fact of the matter is that it is only the person who has sustained injury, their family and those dealing with their claim, who really know what it is like to have to deal with such an injury and the consequences that inevitably follow.
In reality, it is only those deserving cases which are pursued to ‘redress the balance’ and compensate that person for all they have been through and to reclaim their financial losses.
For further information contact Paul Trincas on (01635) 521212, or paul.trincas@clmlaw.co.uk
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